Futures gain on hopes of U.S.-China trade deal

By Arjun Panchadar

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday, buoyed by hopes of a U.S.-China trade deal and an improving domestic economy that led the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record highs last week.

Washington and Beijing said on Friday they had made progress in defusing an economically damaging trade war, with U.S. officials indicating that a deal could be signed this month.

Adding to the optimism, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Sunday licenses for U.S. companies to sell components to China’s Huawei Technologies Co would come “very shortly”.

Trade sensitive chipmakers including Intel Corp (O:), Micron Tech (O:), Qualcomm Inc (O:) and Nvidia Corp (O:) rose between 0.8% and 1.4% in premarket trading.

U.S.-listed Chinese stocks such as online games and media provider NetEase Inc (O:), internet search provider Baidu Inc (O:) and e-commerce firm JD.Com (O:) were also up about 1%.

The S&P 500 and Jones indexes ended Friday with their best week in nearly two months after data showed U.S. jobs growth slowed less than expected in October, easing concerns about the fallout of the trade war on domestic economy.

Fresh data on Monday is expected to show U.S. factory orders falling 0.5% in September compared to a 0.1% drop in August.

At 7:29 a.m. ET, were up 124 points, or 0.45%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 14.25 points, or 0.47% and were up 46 points, or 0.56%.

Under Armour Inc (N:) fell 11.6% as it lowered its full-year revenue forecast for a second straight time, a day after it confirmed a federal investigation on its accounting practices.

McDonald’s Corp (N:) fell 2% after the fast-food giant dismissed Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook over a recent consensual relationship with an employee, which the board determined violated company policy.

U.S.-listed shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:) rival Nio Inc (N:) rose 7% as it reported a 25% jump in vehicle deliveries in October. With nearly 363,000 shares traded before the bell, it was among the most actively-traded U.S. stocks.

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